Happy Leap Day! We're finally reaching the climax of the Battle of Manhattan, so no more trying to remember the events of Last Olympian for us.
Olympus was altogether too silent. It had been quiet before, but it had been a reverent sort of quiet. Now, it felt like a ghost city, a monument to something that died long ago and perhaps never truly was. We wandered through the gardens, passing satyrs with broken legs, demigods bandaged from head to toe, and a body covered in the golden burial shroud of the Apollo cabin.
I didn't want to know who was under it.
I ignored it and tried not to focus on Clint, who was so much like most of the Apollo cabin. Who was currently 600 floors down, embroiled in a war that he should never have been involved in.
We kept walking towards the palace; if I were a power hungry Titan, I know that's where I would head.
"Lady Hestia." I bowed to the small girl in front of me. "The Titans are near."
"I know."
My gaze travelled across the room, focusing on an olive branch by the door. I borderline sprinted to it and grabbed it. "Lady Hestia, I would like to give you this as an offering."
The goddess tilted her head,a small chuckle on her lips. "I am the least of the gods. Why are you giving me this, of all of my brethren?"
"Because the hearth will burn forever, and hopefully always in a time of peace from now on. You are the last Olympian; it is only right that you should be entrusted with a symbol of peace and hope.
Her gaze was as impassive as ever. "You are a child of conflict, Percy. It gives me faith in humanity to see you, of all people, still talking about hope after all you've gone through. Go well today, and may your home hearth always be bright. May the gods bless you." She gave a tiny wink then disappeared.
"I hope they do," I mumbled to myself more than anyone, and then marched towards my father's throne, shoulders squared. I'd never met the guy, and the power palpating through the room made me dizzy, but if he didn't help me now, then we were all going to die. So, Dad, looking for a hand here.
The throne was far more modest than Zeus' golden monstrosity. It was black and leather, with a couple of nice iron rings on the side to hold a fishing pole (or a trident). I could imagine myself owning one of these if I ever got to retire (unlikely given my lifestyle, but a guy can dream).
I could just about reach the edge of the seat if I stretched my arms. "Right, I need a boost."
Annabeth stared at me. "That is literally suicide. The power will burn you alive, even if the rumours about you and the Achilles Curse are true."
Grover moaned slightly. "The gods don't like it when people sit on their seats, like burn you to ashes don't like it."
"Cool, but we don't have time for any of their stupid politics right now, so if my dad decides that I should die for being a little hardheaded then so be it. I need to get his attention. It's the only way. Someone give me a boost."
Grover sort of skittered in a very nervous and distinctly goat-like fashion, and Annabeth glared at me with a look that said 'I'm not going to help you kill yourself and couldn't lift you with one arm either', so I decided to take matters into my own hands. It wasn't that high up; I'd scaled walls that were taller, and it had footholds. Sort of.
I took a few steps back and tilted my head, judging the run up. Grover whimpered quietly and put his hands over his eyes.
I rocked back on the balls of my feet like a high jumper, Clint's free-running lessons coming to mind. I clung to the memory like a lifeline. If I was going to die here, I wanted to remember that memory: Clint demonstrating with his effortless grace and heckling when I hesitated; Nat lounging on the training floor and throwing popcorn, shouting out scores whenever I finished the course (rare) or crashed out (common). Simpler times.
I let out a huge breath, and ran, feet striking the ground perfectly as I launched myself into the take-off, continuing my momentum by pulling up with my arms, and rolling neatly so I was sitting on the seat of the throne.
The throne rumbled. A tsunami wave of anger hit my mind. The very atoms that made up my painfully mortal body seemed to tremble.
"WHO DARES TO-" The voice stopped, which was a relief considering the fact that my mind had been virtually obliterated by those three words alone.
"Perseus?" The voice was still angry, but slightly more controlled. "What in Hades are you doing on my throne?"
"I needed your attention, and you've certainly never done that for me."
My father's voice continued to boom inside my head. "If I hadn't looked before acting, I would have blasted you into a puddle of seawater by now."
Great, I was so lucky. "Thanks, Dad. Kronos is coming to Olympus. We're outnumbered and outgunned. There is literally no chance of us making it through this. We need your help. All of your help. Consider yourself warned, but this is the end of the world. Got that?"
"You better pray this works."
"I am praying; I'm talking to you."
"Yes." He hesitated. "Good point. Incoming!"
The sound of an explosion shattered the connection into hundreds of tiny pieces, and I took that as my invitation to hop down from the throne, slightly dizzy from the sudden disappearance of the extremely loud voice, but my ears weren't bleeding so all was good.
Grover was trembling somewhat, and rushed over to me. "Are you alright? You started smoking."
"What?" Speak of the devil; the acrid smell of burnt hair hit me. "Oh, right." I patted half-heartedly at a couple of visible arm hairs that were still sending swirls of grey smoke upwards in a somewhat cheery fashion.
"If you'd sat there any longer, you would have spontaneously combusted."
"Ah, not fun then."
Annabeth raised a single eyebrow. "That was the single most stupid thing I have ever seen anyone do, and I spend my entire summer at a camp full of twelve year-old kleptomaniacs. Was the conversation worth it at least?"
"We'll cross that bridge when we-"
I broke off when I heard a set of footsteps approaching. The three of us immediately tensed and jumped into position, ready to fight whichever monsters had breached our defenses.
It was Zoe.
"You've got to get down there. The enemy is advancing, and Kronos is leading them. If they get through our defences, then it will be you against them and, frankly, you won't stand a chance."
Well, fuck.
o0O0o
By the time we managed to get to the street, it was too late. There were bodies scattered everywhere, and Clarisse had clearly lost a fight with a Hyperborean Giant, considering the block of ice surrounding her and her chariot.
The Titan army encircled the building, with Kronos' vanguard in the lead: the eyepatch kid, an eight foot tall dracaena, two Hyperborean Giants, and Kronos himself, wielding his scythe in front of our last defender.
"Chiron." I think that was the first time I'd ever heard Annabeth whimper.
Thankfully, the second I got onto the street Kronos's creepy golden eyes fixated on me instead and his nostrils flared. I say thankfully, but all it really meant was that I was going to die first. At least I got his attention?
He glare turned back to Chiron. "Step aside, little son."
I think that somewhere in the back of my mind I vaguely knew that Chiron was Kronos's son, but that sentence gave me whiplash as the knowledge hit me like a brick. It was especially weird considering that it was Luke saying it (and he definitely didn't father a centaur).
"I'm afraid not." And with that, he let loose an arrow with such prowess that it suddenly became clear as to why he was the trainer of heroes. It struck the dracaena directly between the eyes, vaporizing her on the spot, empty armour clattering to the floor.
"You have no more arrows." Kronos leered at Chiron. "You're a teacher, not a hero."
Chiron drew his sword, hand trembling and horse half skittering nervously. "Luke was a hero," Chiron said, clearly drawing as much strength as he could muster. "He was a good one, until you corrupted him."
"You filled his head with empty promises." The anger dripping from Kronos's voice shook the whole city. "You said the gods cared about me!"
The street fell quiet enough to hear a pin drop.
Chiron smiled slightly. "You said 'me'." Taking advantage of Kronos (or Luke)'s confusion, he lunged, blade heading for the neck.
It was as if a switch had been flicked, and the scene exploded into action. Demigods started fighting Kronos' monster army on all sides, brother fighting brother, and sister fighting sister.
Kronos himself was quick, knocking aside Chiron's sword like it weighed nothing and letting out a huge battle cry. "Back!"
Blinding light burst from him, sending Chiron and some members of his own army flying backwards into the skyscrapers around us. Walls collapsed and Chiron was buried along with the other casualties.
"No!" Annabeth screamed a scream so guttural, that it sounded as if the world was coming to mourn Chiron.
But the monsters flowed forwards, unheeding. I uncapped Riptide and took two steps forwards before swinging into the fray. I barely paid a second's thought to the monsters falling all around me as a deadly rain of arrows descended, each one hitting their mark with perfect precision.
Annabeth ran towards Kronos, knife drawn, an his smug smile faded. Maybe there was a part of Luke that remembered teaching this little seven year old how to fight, or maybe it was just sheer shock at her audacity. She plunged her knife between the traps of his armour: a perfect hit, or so we thought. The blade bounced off like his skin was iron, and Annabeth doubled over, the impact resounding through her arm.
If that was what this Achilles Curse or whatever looked like, then matters had just become slightly more complicated.
I yanked her back, relying on instinct alone as Kronos swung his scythe through the air where Annabeth had been standing. She writhed against my grip, screaming obscenities.
I wasn't sure who she was talking to: me, or Kronos, or Luke.
Kronos lunged forwards again, but pulled up short as an arrow struck his helmet dead-on and exploded. It didn't hurt him, but the momentary distraction was all that I needed to swing Annabeth properly off her feet in order to physically carry her to safety.
I only knew one archer with exploding arrows, and the very thought of his kindness and sacrifice after my callous abandonment of him was enough to make my eyes prick with tears.
I spun my head around to lock eyes with Clint, trying to urge him to leave here before Kronos could use him as some sort of leverage, but was met with the same steely determination that he always wore, and a slight smirk as he effortlessly skewered a hellhound about to try and take my head off.
I dashed through the doors of the Empire State and put Annabeth down. She had stopped cursing everything by now, but was still obviously shaken, and her arm was causing her a lot of pain, so I called an Apollo camper over to get them to look after her.
She reached out with her good arm and snagged one of the straps on my armour as I turned to leave. "Don't die, okay?"
I felt the tiniest hint of a smile tug at the corners of my lips. "I'll see what I can do."
She nodded, and I took it that I was dismissed, so headed back out into the brawl, sword raised, and fell into a screeching and pounding rhythm as I swung my blade and felt, rather than saw, monsters drop all around me as Clint picked them off, watching my six as if no time had passed at all.
I swung my blade at a telkhine, only for it to take a jab at me; weird, none of the other telkhines had managed to fight back before I'd vaporised them. It continued to urge itself on, fighting and fighting.
Then I heard a woof, and everything clicked into place.
Mrs O'Leary had arrived and she'd brought reinforcements; standing at the end of the block was my favourite hellhound, and Nico di Angelo, small and pale-looking as always, but with a fire in his eyes and his enormous (and terrifying) sword held with casual expertise.
He pushed his way through the crowd, with the lines of monsters falling back as if he radiated death, which he did, of course. Nico grinned at me. "I got your invitation; is it too late to join the party?"
I brushed a rather sweaty lock of hair out of my eyes. "I dunno, but I'd say that there are still quite a few unwanted guests, so how do you feel about playing bouncer?"
He readjusted his grip on his sword, said "sure thing," and took a single fluid step forwards before swinging the blade round in a deadly arc, monsters disintegrating and falling back in spades. Sometimes I forgot quite how powerful the diminutive demigod was, but he was a child of the Big Three, too.
The ground rumbled around us, and cracks started to fracture the tarmac beneath my feet. I jumped to the left, narrowly avoiding the skeletal hands that were grasing the air for the first time in centuries. There were thousands of them, and as they started to group together in a phalanx, the Titan army started to skitter.
"Hold your ground!" Kronos shouted, derision lacing his tone. "The dead are no match for us."
It was as if his words were a cue for the sky to darken.
A harsh and blaring war horn sounded as the clouds thickened above us and the soldiers of the dead got into formation. An enormous chariot roared down Fifth Avenue, halting next to Nico. Holding the reigns was presumably Hades himself, accompanied by two women.
Hades smiled. "Hello Father. You're looking young."
"I see that you've come to pledge allegiance."
"Oh, of course. I have an army here for you as well, which is why they're attacking you rather than the rather ragtag team surrounding my brother's upstart, speaking of which, I can practically smell the death coming off of him, so maybe it would be best not to get on his bad side." He gestured vaguely in my direction, and I belatedly wondered whether he had meant it as an insult.
Also, dude. I was just making some friends here, and you have to go make it weird. I decided that it would be best not to try and justify a statement like that from the god of death (he was kind of an expert), so I stood as insolently as possible and stared Kronos down, trying to ignore the campers who were shuffling rather uncomfortably in an attempt to get as far away from me as possible without my notice.
Hades didn't seem to notice the tension in our ranks, because he bulldozed on, regardless. "You did choose a good spot for it. There's something quite poetic about a last stand, even if it is going to be a real pain for good old Hermes to smooth this over with the mortals. I'm sure there'll be a few more joining my ranks before the day is up. Maybe old Luke, right, Dad?"
Kronos smiled slightly in a mildly reptilian fashion, flat gold eyes gleaming. "Soon I will be strong enough to burn off this pathetic husk and assume my true form, but a human body will have to do for now."
Hades gave the patronising sort of smile that a parent gives a child who says that they want to be an astronaut. "Yes, I'm sure. Anyway, sitting here is getting rather boring, so why don't we just skip all of the chit chat and get on with the part where Jackson here increases his confirmed kill list, shall we?" He drew a truly enormous Stygian Iron sword, and gave the reins the lightest shake. The two shadowy horses drawing his chariot bared their fangs and charged, manes rippling like smoke. Kronos rolled his eyes and waved his monstrous army forwards, and the battle resumed.
We cut down swathes of monsters like they were little more than wheatstalks, but there were many, many more of them than us, and we were tiring fast. I saw one demigod stumble slightly as he swung his sword, and in the blink of an eye he vanished under a dozen empousae, slashing forwards without mercy.
I waded through the chaos to try and help, but it was far too late by the time I'd got anywhere close. The only thing I could do was keep fighting, battered backwards and forwards by the relentless tide.
Fire lanced up my arm as a hellhound landed a lucky paw-swipe, creating three neat red lines up the flesh of my forearm and effectively severing the straps of my right vambrace, which clattered to the tarmac. Handy. I hissed, and redoubled my efforts, gripping the hilt of my sword with both hands and swinging it with all the strength that I could muster.
A huge explosion wracked the street, and a dense group of attacking hellhounds erupted into yellow smoke. Clint was clearly running out of precision ammunition and was resorting to the old faithful 'blow shit up' tactic.
Distracted by this, I slipped in something on the road and fell, hard enough to send the impact jarring through my frame and rattling my armour.
Monsters descended with shrieks of glee, and the sky vanished. I rolled over and over, slashing upwards and around and doing my very best not to get trampled by hundreds of clawed feet. After what felt like a (very dangerous) eternity, I managed to roll into a position that gave me the leverage to explode upwards and surge back to my feet, now cut off from the rest of the demigods and right in the middle of the writhing mass of bodies.
I dealt death in all directions like the whirlwind I'd created to destroy Hyperion, sword flashing as I cleared myself a dusty path to relative safety.
For a few seconds, I felt like I was invincible.
Obviously, all good things have to come to an end (not that the battle in general was going particularly well), so I wasn't actually all that surprised when everything slowed down, like we were all suddenly wading through molasses, and Kronos' voice rang out derisively. "Do I have your attention now, Perseus the Destroyer?"
I turned slowly, heart sinking. Sure enough, I was gazing at an all-too-familiar scene that was far too reminiscent of that terrible day in San Francisco: Clint, forced to his knees, bow snapped in two, Kronos standing behind him, steel edge of his scythe-sword held tightly against the soft skin of my friend's throat. Clint held himself incredibly stiff and still, back ramrod straight in defiance, but there was fear there. Repressed by months and years of training, yes, but nothing can truly take away the mortal terror when faced with death.
Clint had witnessed Kronos' wanton destruction and bloodlust; he knew that the ancient Titan didn't have qualms about killing groups of children, so he also knew that he would kill him without a moment's remorse.
But there was still fire in his blue eyes, and he gazed at me with an almost frightening intensity, as if challenging me, but to what I hadn't a clue.
Time unfroze, the world jolting back to normal pace with a sickening lurch, but nobody moved. With the silence around us, it was almost as if the entire city was holding its breath as I stared down the Titan of time, the ruthless monster who sought to destroy both of my worlds.
I capped Riptide, and dropped the pen to the tarmac, where it bounced harmlessly a couple of times. The tiny sound felt loud enough to rival a gunshot.
"What do you want?" I asked, keeping my hands slightly spread so that he could see them.
Kronos chuckled, and it sounded like a knife being dragged across a whetstone. "I want Olympus, Perseus Jackson. Will you give it to me? His life for your surrender. Does that sound fair to you?"
Every hour of SHIELD's training drummed against my skull, telling me that the mission is always more important than the members, but it was at war with a far greater part of myself, the part that showed me treacherous memories of a prickly, friendless boy in a threadbare leather jacket, of two boys shovelling cake in their mouths until they thought they would be sick.
Kronos knew that Clint meant more to me than SHIELD, more to me than even my own life. And that meant that he knew what I was going to do.
Clint did too, but he was shaking his head minutely. The message was clear: don't do it for me. If he still knew me at all after all of the time we'd spent apart, he'd know that it was useless.
I spread my arms wide, and sank very slowly to my knees, eyes still fixed on Kronos, whose grin grew wider with every passing second. I stayed there for a moment, kneeling on the cold road, slicked with dust and blood, arms spread wide and a traitorous tear carving a rivulet through the filth caking my face before I spoke. "Then Olympus is yours," I proclaimed, the tension settled around me like a shroud.
Kronos kept his grip on Clint, who exhaled very slowly, the tiniest of smirks twisting the corner of his lips as he tensed almost imperceptibly. The Titan leered at me, then quite suddenly tightened his blade arm, as if making to slash the throat of his captive, who at that very moment slipped a blade from his boot and exploded upwards, throwing his head back viciously in a move that would have broken a normal human's nose, driving the knife back as if to stab him, but bouncing harmlessly off.
Kronos' scythe drove a long line through Clint's body armour and across his chest instead of spilling his carotid artery across the pavement, and for the tiniest moment I thought he was almost safe.
But Kronos snarled, and time came to a sludgy halt again, Clint half-frozen mid-escape as the Titan strolled over and dragged him back by the arm.
My ears popped as time sped up again, Clint bucking and snarling, no longer the image of calmness he had been moments before. Had Kronos been in a mortal body, he would have broken his kneecaps and run off again, but his struggles were to no avail, and after only a short scuffle, Kronos had Clint in another deadly hold, blade across his throat again and his other hand yanking his head back by the hair. Clint's teeth were bared in a bloody snarl, but he wasn't escaping this time around.
"Feisty, isn't he?" Kronos mused, drawing a crimson line across Clint's throat with the steel edge of his scythe.
I trembled slightly on the cold tarmac, but stayed where I was. "If you let him go unharmed, I swear that I will let you walk through that lobby and into that elevator without any resistance," I declared, hoping that the tremor didn't come across in my voice.
"Interesting, but this is so much fun," Kronos replied, pulling the blade even tighter. Blood trickled into the neckline of Clint's shirt, but he stayed still, chest heaving as he fought to hold onto his control.
"What more do you want?" I almost yelled, teeth gritted, more furious tears tracking down my face.
Kronos laughed again, sending shivers down the spines of everyone in the crowd. I saw a camper take a step forwards as if to intervene, but they were stopped by a wall of dracenae. This was a show they would simply have to watch, it seemed. "I want you to beg, great leader of the resistance that you are. Will you grovel on the ground to me like a dog to save one person's life? Will you swear on the River Styx that you won't attack me if I let him go?"
Sadistic bastard. "I will only make a binding oath if you will too."
Not that he would, of course. "And why should I swear such an oath, when you have nothing with which to negotiate? If you don't swear an oath, then I simply kill your friend and all of you." He tightened his grip again as if to demonstrate, and Clint shivered a little as the gash was widened.
I couldn't take it any longer. "Fine! I swear on the River Styx, that if you let him go unharmed, I will let you walk into that elevator and go up to Olympus without any resistance. Is that enough for you?"
Kronos tilted his head. "Will you beg, Destroyer?"
It wasn't as if I could go down onto my knees in some symbolic gesture: I was already grovelling, so I let the tears just keep flowing. "Please! Just let him go!" I even lowered my gaze for a few seconds before looking back up into not-Luke's triumphant golden gaze.
"Very well." He let go of Clint, giving him a vicious kick that sent him sprawling face-first in the dirt, and stalked towards me, stopping right next to me and leaning down. My whole frame rattled as I fought to keep my oath, to not surge upwards and try to wipe the smug grin from his borrowed face. "How fitting, that the Destroyer is to give me the key to the destruction of the very thing he seeks to save."
He stood upright again and strode through the demigods, who parted meekly to let him through. I was strangely touched that they were upholding my oath too: it would only be me condemned if they broke it, after all, and I hadn't exactly been the most sociable personality at Camp.
I shook off my daze and leapt to my feet, running over to Clint, who was struggling to sit up, one hand held almost absentmindedly to his sluggishly-bleeding throat.
I'll admit here that I all but tackled him in a bear hug, trying to force all of my emotion and regret into that single moment. The battle was secondary now; the only thing I cared about was that my best friend, my brother, was still breathing. I buried my face into his collar, and I must say that it did get a little damp.
After a short eternity, I pulled back to properly look at him through the tears clouding my vision.
It's okay; he was crying too. Some of us might be traumatised and emotionally repressed, but the adrenaline plus the gravity of the situation made us both into deadly, heartless, government-trained wrecks who were hugging each other like the world was ending, which to be fair it was.
"Gods, you are so stupid." I wrapped my arms even more firmly around him.
"I know. Speaking of which, what is this battle even about?"
"I'll tell you later; I promise, but I've got a civilisation to save. You have to stay down here and get medical help." I spun around as quickly as I could. "Will! Get over here!"
Clint smiled up at me faintly. "Don't die, okay?" He pulled a second knife out of his boot and offered it, hilt-first.
I took it with a wry smile.
o0O0o
The bridge to Olympus was dissolving when we got out of the elevator. We stepped onto the white marble walkway, and instantly cracks started to form in the rock beneath us.
"Jump!" Grover screamed, as he would because he's part fucking mountain goat. He sprang from his slab of stone to the next one, whilst mine and Anabeth's tilted horribly.
I leapt away as quickly as I could, but Annabeth was still in no shape for jumping from floating stone to floating stone. She stumbled and yelled, "Percy!"
I caught her wrist as the tile fell, crumbling into the abyss below us. For a second it felt like she was going to pull us both down, with her feet kicking in the open air.
Her wrist slipped until only my fingers were holding hers. Then Grover grabbed my leg and I found the extra strength from deep within me.
Annabeth was not going to fall. Not on my watch.
I dragged her up, both of us panting.
"Thanks."
"You're welcome."
Grover shoved my shoulder. "Keep moving!" We continued running from slab to slab, jumping just in time as each one fell into oblivion. By the end of the walkway, there was only a set of grey metal doors to indicate that there had even been an elevator there in the first place.
Annabeth looked close to tears, the sheer stress of the day so far clearly taking its toll. "The connection between Olymps and America is dissolving. If it fails-"
"Olympus won't move onto another country. This will be the end of the Greek civilisation as we know it. But let's not think about that, because, if we fail, we'll be dead, so, bigger things to worry about."
We followed the winding path to the throne room; the whole mountaintop was in ruins; so many beautiful buildings and gardens all destroyed.
Somewhere ahead of us, Kronos' voice boomed. "I promised that I would tear it down brick by brick, so it will be brick by brick." A faint crash underlined his meaning.
We eventually reached the throne room, after what felt like an eternity thanks to either Kronos' time magic, or the feeling of impending doom that had settled in my body (quite possibly both). Now I would have to fulfill the prophecy, and it didn't sound like a pretty ending.
Kronos was stood in the middle of the throne room, laughing for no apparent reason - like a mad man. Eyepatch Boy was positioned at his side, ready to enact his master's will whenever ready.
Annabeth, Grover, and I stepped into the light, and Eyepatch noticed us first.
"My Lord," he warned, eyepatch glinting in the light of the dying hearth.
Kronos turned to us, wearing Luke's smiling face. "Shall I destroy you first, Perseus? Is that the choice you make? To fight me and die, instead of bowing down before your rightful king. Though I do admire the wording of your oath."
"Luke would fight with his sword, but I suppose you don't have the skill."
Kronos sneered down at me, Luke's dark scar twisting. "Fine." His scythe slowly rippled into Luke's old sword - half mortal steel, half celestial bronze, the metals blended and twisted together as if they were incompatible with one another.
Next to me Annabeth gasped as if she'd been shocked by Clarisse's electric spear. "Percy! The blade!" She unsheathed her knife. "The hero's soul cursed blade shall reap."
I wasn't sure why she was bringing that up now, when I was about to be killed (and it was fairly obvious from what I'd heard about blood magic that Backbiter was most definitely cursed), but okay. Kronos raised his sword, eyes hardening into a murderous glare.
"Wait!" Annabeth yelled.
Kronos didn't listen; he lunged forward, sword slashing at me from all directions. My instincts took over as it felt like I was facing a hundred swordsmen rather than just one terrifying Titan. He backed me against Hephaestus' throne, some recliner thing with all sorts of twisted metal poking out of it. The mechanisms whirred inside of the chair; "Defence Mode," it warned. "Defence Mode."
It was by sheer luck that I jumped up as far as I could go as lightning arced across the room to hit Kronos in the face. He shuddered before falling to his knees; Backbiter fell from his hand.
Annabeth saw her chance. Kicking Eyepatch away from where he was fighting, she charged Kronos. "Luke! Listen. You-"
She didn't finish her sentence before Kronos flicked his wrist and she soared across the room, slamming into her mother's throne and crumpling to the floor.
"Fuck."
Kronos rose to one knee, hair smouldering and face covered in electrical burns. His hand shot out to summon Backbiter, but for once it didn't fly into his hand. "Ethan Nakumara," he growled, presumably talking to Eyepatch. "It is time to prove yourself. Kill Jackson, and you will have reward beyond measure. You will be a king in our new Golden Age."
I locked eye(s) with Ethan, knowing that guilt-tripping was my only way out of this situation. "Look around you, Ethan," I murmured. "It's the end of the world; is this the reward you want? Everything getting destroyed: the good with the bad? Everything?"
His eye flickered downwards. "There's no throne to my mother; there's no throne to Nemesis."
Nemesis? The goddess of balance?
"That's right," Kronos yelled, as he tried to rise to his feet, but stumbled. "Strike him down! They fight for an unfair side that will never recognise the minor gods."
"Your mom is the goddess of balance," I reminded him. "The minor gods do deserve justice, but this is not how you get it. There is no balance in Kronos' cause; he doesn't build; he only destroys."
Ethan blinked before pulling his helmet down and charging.
But not at me.
He ran towards the Titan Lord, wielding his blade above his head, before bringing it down in a frenzied motion on Luke's neck.
I flinched as the sword shattered, erupting in shards of celestial bronze around the two of them. Ethan fell back, grasping his stomach; a fragment of celestial bronze had ricocheted and pierced his own armour.
Kronos rose slowly to his feet. "Treason!" he snarled.
Ethan stared up at me, eyes glassy. "They deserve-" He choked on a bit of blood. "If... had thrones."
Kronos stomped his foot and the ground around Ethan's body shattered. The son of Nemesis fell through a fissure, leading to what should have been the very centre of the mountain, but instead into thin air. I felt bad, as it was essentially my fault that he'd died, but there wasn't much time to stop and think about all that right now.
"So much for him." Kronos bent down and picked up his sword. "And now for the rest of you."
I glanced around at us: the last line of defence. It was a pitiful sight: one nervous satyr, armed with panpipes; one injured demigod, armed with a knife but unwilling to hurt the boy she'd once called family; and me, exhausted, but by all accounts still the best prepared out of all of us, since I was uninjured (except for bruises), and still had my sword.
I stepped forwards, intercepting Kronos, who twisted Luke's face into a gross parody of a smile, and lunged, bringing his sword down in a deadly arc even as I swung Riptide upwards, our blades clashing in an explosion of sparks, metal screeching on metal as we each pushed at the other with all our strength.
For a second or so, we stayed there, immovable object and unstoppable force, frozen in that deadly embrace, before I ducked and twisted, the swords detangled, and we began the deadliest of dances, blades flashing as we lunged and parried across the tumbling ruins of the Greek gods' last stronghold, feet slipping slightly on the fine marble floors.
I slashed at Kronos' chestplate with enough force to tear his Celestial Bronze armour, but he just laughed, and time slowed as he took a moment to casually examine the new gash in the plate. I cursed silently: he could take all the breaks he wanted while I struggled against his powers.
Time elongated and flowed back to normal speed, and we resumed the fight, but now it was clear that I wasn't going to get the upper hand. Luke had always been a better swordsman than I was, and Kronos had hundreds of years of experience to add to his, so he was damn near unstoppable. I'd like to say that I made an admirable effort nevertheless, as we continued to duel in a whirlwind of deadly edges.
As I danced backwards out of the way of one of Kronos' mad swipes, his blade shimmered and shifted, lengthening and curving just enough to snag behind my ankle and trip me up, before instantly becoming a sword again. I rolled backwards and jumped to my feet in a single fluid motion. He was going to have to try harder to keep me down.
So he was going to play dirty. Two can play that particular game, and he should've known never to invite a spy to break the rules.
I grimaced slightly, ducking back again as Backbiter came at my face in a deadly arc. "Luke, you don't want to do this. He's using you to get back at the gods."
"Good!" he bellowed, disarming me and sending Riptide skittering into the open fissure, following Ethan.
Shit, emotional blackmail was clearly not going to work then.
"Stop!" Annabeth dived into the battle out of nowhere.
Kronos gritted his teeth, and whirled to face her, slashing at the air with Backbiter, but somehow Annabeth managed to catch the strike with the hilt of her dagger. I don't know how she managed to have the strength, but she stepped in closer for leverage, and for a couple of seconds she was face to face with the Titan Lord, teeth gritted in a furious snarl.
"Luke! You have to trust me!"
Kronos roared. "Luke Castellan is dead! His body will burn away as I ascend to my true form!"
Annabeth stepped in again, grunting with effort as tears began to fall from her eyes. "Your mother saw your fate. She knew what would befall you."
I didn't know where this was going, but judging by the way that Kronos faltered for a millisecond, I was going to guess that whatever happened to Luke's mom was pretty bad, and that this blow was a low one.
"The prophecy applies to you! She saw what you would have to do!"
"I will crush you!" Kronos bellowed.
I shoved my hand into my pocket (surprisingly difficult when wearing plate armour), but Riptide was yet to reappear.
Annabeth shook her head. "You won't; you're holding back even now."
"Lies and slander!" Kronos pushed back against her knife, and sent her flying across the room. He marched over to her, sword raised and ready to deliver the killing blow
My fingers brushed over cool plastic, and I was taking strides across the room before I'd even had time to think, sword springing to full length even as I leapt at Kronos, to stop his blade before it fell, but Annabeth saved the day before I even got there.
Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth. "Family, Luke. You promised."
I came to a screeching halt mere feet from Kronos and capped the blade before I accidently did something I regretted.
He stared at the knife in Annabeth's hand, the blood on her face. The Titan Lord stumbled backward. "Annabeth?" It wasn't Kronos' voice that came out, but instead it was Luke's. "You're bleeding!"
I surged forward and, as quickly as I could, grabbed Backbiter out of Luke's hand and tossing it into the scarlet coals, not that he seemed to notice as his body started to glow a vibrant gold.
Luke coughed. "He's changing. He's almost ready." His entire form started to vibrate as he took lumbering steps towards the hearth.
"Jackson!" Kronos' voice crept out of Luke's unwilling mouth as he pulled the red hot sword out of the fire. He charged towards me, sword swinging haphazardly.
I tried to run, but couldn't, my legs frozen in place by his creepy as fuck time powers. I settled for glaring, because he wasn't going to get me to grovel again.
Kronos stopped mere feet from me, and lifted the tip of his sword so that it just touched the skin under my chin. I tried not to flinch too much as it burned, and waited for him to just finish me while I was helpless, but he didn't.
His outline shivered a little, and for the briefest of moments, the gold in his eyes was overlain by blue. The sword-tip lowered slowly and time warped and shuddered back to normal as Luke took tenuous control again.
"Percy," Annabeth murmured from her crumpled position at the foot of Athena's throne. "Percy, the blade."
I turned slowly, keeping my movements unthreatening as if facing a wolf rather than a Titan. Annabeth was nudging her knife towards me with her foot, her arm at a funny angle.
"It's not Backbiter. It's this. And, if it's any comfort, I don't think it's you, either."
She was referring to the prophecy. I wasn't going to contradict the deduction of a daughter of Athena, so I bent down to pick it up gingerly, then turned back to Luke, who was thankfully still Luke. I was less sure about the second half of her statement, because as far as I was aware Luke was still functionally immortal, so I probably wouldn't be able to kill him with Annabeth's tiny knife, but I didn't mention it, instead standing tall and facing him.
"Let me," he rasped, slowly outstretching his left hand, still loosely gripping Backbiter with the other. "Only I- only I can get close enough. Anyone else and he'll-" he cut off with a shudder- "anyone else and he'll take over."
I hesitated, staring into his swirling half-gold eyes, and made my choice.
I capped Riptide and dropped it to the floor, then kicked it away. I then turned Annabeth's knife over and stepped very slowly forwards, offering it hilt-first to Luke.
Luke took the knife nearly as cautiously as I'd offered it, and, for a split-second, I wondered if this was going to work.
But, between heartbeats, as I let go of the knife and made to step slowly backwards, the blank gold look snapped back over Luke's features, and before I could even think about reacting, before Annabeth or Grover could yell a warning, he took a huge stride in my direction, and with the horrendous screeching of tearing metal, he'd driven Backbiter to the hilt clean through my chestplate. I hadn't even seen him lift his sword arm.
It was cold.
We hung there a moment, close enough to embrace as I could do nothing but gaze into the maddened and triumphant golden gaze of the Titan, who'd well and truly taken control this time over.
Then Kronos was stepping backwards, and pulling the sword back as he did. Without it there to sort of hold me upright, my legs gave and I crumpled to the white marble, curling slightly inwards on myself as I did. The floor was cold too (as cruel and unforgiving as the gods themselves), and I found myself shivering slightly as I lay there, focusing on just breathing shallowly through the pain, painting a truly pathetic image of the last line of defence.
I heard a sort of shuffle, and then the ugly clang of a metal sword falling onto the floor. With a huge effort, I forced myself to shift to look up at Luke/Kronos, who'd dropped Backbiter with a look of horror on his face. Sweat beaded on his brow.
He rushed to clumsily unbuckle a section of his armour, exposing a patch of skin on the underside of his arm. Luke, then. He cast his eyes to Annabeth, and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like 'I'm sorry,' before he took a deep breath, and, with some difficulty, stabbed himself with Annabeth's short knife.
I curled back in on myself again as the air was suffused with brilliant gold, and Luke positively howled. Where his body had been glowing gold with the ichor of a Titan, his skin fell to dust, leaving chunks of flesh missing from his body, but unbleeding. Then his body hit the floor like a bowling ball, the sound echoing around the throne room. His breath was a faint rattle. "You knew." His unfocused blue eyes stared past Annabeth. "I almost killed you, but-"
Annabeth dropped to her knees beside him. "Shh, you were a hero at the end. You'll go to Elysium."
Luke tried to nod his head. "Rebirth...Three times. Try for the Isles of the Blest."
I laid my head gently back against the marble: I didn't need to watch the final moments between two people who had been, by all accounts, family. The cold seemed to fill me right to my very core, Backbiter's deadly curse draining my life source even faster than the wound itself.
Grover landed heavily by my side and rolled me onto my back, pressing his hands against the entry wound in my stomach. Fiery agony lanced through my entire body, and my boots drew bloody streaks on the white marble as I writhed against him with all of my fading strength.
His eyes were huge and wild: terrified, but he kept the pressure up and kept muttering (to himself or to me I wasn't sure), "stay awake, stay awake, don't die please."
But it was too little, too late.
As I let the world start to swim away, I heard:
"Did you- Did you love me?"
I was unconscious before I heard Annabeth's reply.
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